Ncc, change. Go for the new spreadsheet: 20-minute wait between trips

The new electronic service sheet for Hire with Driver contained in an inter-ministerial decree, 226 of 26 October, and signed jointly by Matteo Salvini's Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and Matteo Piantedosi's Ministry of the Interior, is now in force. The new document, fiercely contested by the black car associations and defended by the minister from an anti-abuse perspective, will come into force in about two months. First, by 26 November, an implementation circular is expected, and after another month the new document will come into force in the non-scheduled public transport service.

The main changes concern the data to be entered in the electronic platform and the breaks between services. In particular, the data of the driver, those of the principal, the start and end time of the service, place of departure, place of arrival and vehicle registration number will have to be indicated on the service sheet. But the novelty that makes the sector's companies' mouths wrinkle the most is the one that imposes a twenty-minute break in journeys with departure outside the garage. In Article 4, paragraph 3, the provision states that 'the booking can be registered as a draft service up to twenty minutes before the start of the relevant service'. It is this above all that infuriates the trade associations, which are announcing battle. "A demented obligation, which goes in the opposite direction to what happens in any other European country, which in fact reinstates the obligation to return in remittance already rejected by the Constitutional Court in 2020, which will put tens of thousands of operators and Ncc companies out of the market, and which will affect the freedom of movement of citizens, tourists and businesses," said the president of MuoverSì Federazione Ncc Andrea Romano. The association is not just protesting and announces an appeal to the Tar.

Uber also joins the chorus of protest and in a note brands the measure as a 'queue stretcher'. "This decree imposes a limitation on the offer by the Ncc to serve users who have the right to access a service that responds to the needs of the moment. The average waiting time for an Uber ride in Europe is 5 minutes, but in Italy users will have to wait 20 minutes: in reality, these decrees are queue-stretchers, because they further limit the mobility offer in Italian cities and thus increase a dramatic situation that is there for all to see, as witnessed by the long queues of citizens and tourists outside stations and airports,' commented Lorenzo Pireddu, general manager of Uber.